An Irishman from Co. Westmeath got more than he bargained for when preparing his backyard for building a shed – he discovered human remains that are more than 4,000 years old.

Pat Tiernan was excavating soil in his backyard in Collinstown, Co. Westmeath when bad weather led to a minor landslide, according to a report in “The Irish Times.”

“I looked out the window and saw bones protruding out the back and I saw the pot, and then I kind of knew what I was looking at,” Tiernan told the “Times.”

“They looked too big for ordinary animal bones and too small for large animal bones.”

The National Museum of Ireland says that Tiernan’s surprise find is “significant.” Museum workers came to Tiernan’s home and removed the bones, and told him that the discovery is somewhere in the region of 4,000-4,500 years old.

Padraig Clancy, who works at the museum, says that the gender of the remains is still unknown. He also maintains that the remains were likely buried as part of a Bronze Age tradition of isolated burials.

He also thanked Tiernan for his attentiveness to the remains, which will now be analyzed further and eventually preserved at the museum.